A/N: Written as a Fandom Gift Box 2017 exchange gift for phidari.
Depending on where it was in Hawaii, grass, water, or fire type pokemon were in high abundance. But in their area, the grass pokemon came out to play in the forest. It was just as well. Sometimes they were difficult to find. Luckily, the forest had many pokemon lurking as long a they walked along the pathways and sought them out.
That's why, searching an electric-type like a Pikachu in the forest made things even more of an adventure! It wasn't the usual pokemon that they saw every day. On top of it all, this pikachu was a current special event in Pokemon GO.
"This way!" Hoku called. He raced ahead in the emerald under brush, every few seconds peering down at his smart phone. "Promise we'll find it, for your birthday!"
That's right—Pokemon GO's anniversary aligned with Shohei's actual birthday. It was better that Pokemon's 20th Anniversary was celebrated around the same time. He had loved seeing trainer Ash's pikachu in Ash's red and white cap for one of the previous events in the game—in his eyes, Ash was the ultimate trainer!—but the pink and purple birthday hat Pikachu had caught him breathless. Shohei had seen the notification for birthday hat Pikachu, and he had immediately fallen in love with the cute rodent, calling up Hoku late at night to talk to him about plans to catch it. Shohei needed to see it in his pokemon list.
But the only real problem was…
"I don't see any here…" Shohei mumbled, dejected. He stared at the trainer representing him on the screen and the spotted nearby pokemon in the corner of the screen. Nothing was there except a few lonesome caterpie and weedle. And a hoothoot had just popped up, too.
Shohei followed along nonetheless. He jumped over a rock, but he felt his spirits dampening. He shouldn't! Trainers didn't get upset over things like this. The hardest pokemon to get were the greatest friends, but they had been searching for at least three hours by this point.
"Don't lose hope!" Hoku told him, grinning.
Shohei suddenly felt a burst of excitement. Hoku was the only one who knew had much he wanted the Pikachu, and he didn't doubt he would stay with him until they found it. Shohei raised his chin and they kept on running forward.
Without warning, though, Shohei's heart dropped when he heard Hoku yell at him less than ten minutes later.
"I have one!"
Hoku skidded to a stop and showed Shohei the birthday hat pikachu sitting next to his trainer on screen. Hurriedly, he poked it, and the pikachu squeaked "pika!" on the capture screen. Hoku went straight for feeding it a berry to raise its trust a little bit so it wouldn't run. He tapped a few more times and prepared a great ball to finish it off.
"Catch it, catch it!" Shohei said. He was a little sad—and admittedly to himself, a little jealous—Hoku had found one first. But he had to support his friend no matter what. He would have his chance and he had to be patient for it.
Shohei watched with bated breath as pikachu slipped inside the ball. The ball shook and pikachu leapt out. He honestly thought it would run away as was the common thing to do but, amazingly, didn't do anything of the sort. The Pikachu stared at them with its smiling face.
"This time," Shohei said, expression steely.
Hoku's eyebrows knit and he nodded with all the seriousness in the entire world. Shohei could feel his heartbeat pounding in his chest. If there was one thing he didn't want, he truly didn't want Hoku to be disappointed. Hoku threw the ball. One, two, three times… zing!
"Congrats!" Shohei grinned back at Hoku's infectious and triumphant smirk. He couldn't help but feel happy for him.
But he still wanted to keep going, because he had seen catching the pikachu of his dreams was possible. The twilight rays in the forest were beginning to draw dimmer and the crickets were beginning to sing. Shohei's grin slowly began to slip and fade, but Hoku clapped him on the shoulder, and he was on the move again.
"Let's go," Hoku reminded.
"It's getting late—" Shohei tried to say.
Hoku simply waved. Shohei knew they both had to get back home soon and do homework and eat dinner, but he didn't want to leave Hoku all the same. He was having fun. And even after he caught the birthday hat pikachu, he didn't want to leave his side anyway. They had to scheme whether it was a good idea to try and evolve their pikachu in the future or keep Pikachu the way it was like Ash had done. It was one of the toughest decisions ever.
Orange and pink streaks dotted the horizon beyond the trees. Shohei's hopes tried to stay positive. Tomorrow was another day. They would have time to look after school. He shouldn't worry about finding it that much, the event would last for a few more days. And then he—
Shohei's phone vibrated and he glanced down at the bright screen. His eyes adjusted and he laughed.
"Found it!" he called to Hoku, nearly stumbling over a log, hand landing on a nearby tree for support. Hoku was so far ahead of him that he had to double back. Shohei didn't wait. He was too excited and focused completely on the screen with all the intensity of a pokemon battle.
"You can do it, too," Hoku encouraged.
Hoku looked over his shoulder. Shohei tapped the screen and threw the great ball directly on the Pikachu after the catcher went down to the best possible chance. The ball shook three times and Shohei was about to scream.
The pikachu leapt out. In a dust cloud, it disappeared.
Silence cut like a knife between them. Shohei lowered his phone and didn't look up at Hoku. He frowned and scuffed his feet against the forest floor, hanging his head.
Hoku pursed his lips. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a snack bar, enthusiasm returning. "I told your parent you were staying at my house tonight." He pressed the bar in Shohei's hands. "Still light out for a while longer. While we can, let's keep looking."
Shohei looked at the bar that would serve as he dinner. He didn't know Hoku had gone to that length for him. Had he known that things might go south like this and prepared in advance? Either way, Hoku pulled out another one and started nibbling on it. Soon, his energy returned after eating it himself. They went on the hunt once more.
Shohei didn't mean to inconvenience him. He knew it was silly. Pokemon GO was fickle in how pokemon sometimes showed up and ran away. It was super frustrating! But he couldn't help but not want to look for too long since Hoku had found his birthday hat pikachu already. They went past their hideout in the woods and said hi to their friends, who said they should go north. Spawns of pikachu had been spotted that way. Shohei nodded and kept going.
Just to keep things going in the right direction, he used another incense and sprayed it around the area. He was starting to get low on them and had used them sparingly until that point. Desperate times were for desperate measures. He had so many chances left to do this.
He kept his eye keen on the nearby pokemon box. Shohei's entire body jerked when the sight of yellow and pink and purple caught his eye and he started to run towards it without preamble. Soon enough, his phone vibrated once again and the pikachu appeared. The sound was like a angel's bell ringing in welcome of a new day.
Shohei placed both hands around the screen and stared. This was his true chance. He had to tell the birthday hat pikachu how much he wanted it. It would be happy in his list among all its other pokemon friends. He squared his shoulders and took in a deep breath; next to him, Hoku clenched his hands and pointed at the screen.
Shohei tossed the ball with the flick of his wrist. The ball shook. He counted the seconds between each shake. It felt like an eternity. He shivered in anticipation and waited for the pikachu to accept the invitation to join his party.
Zing!
Staring at the lone poke ball on the screen and the new pokedex entry after his successful capture blankly, he only realized what happened moments later. It hit him head on like thunderbolt attack. He cheered. Dropping his phone, he tackled Hoku, knocking him backward into a tree. But he was so, so happy he couldn't contain himself anymore!
"You're welcome," Hoku laughed, because Shohei's brilliant smile was all the thanks he would ever need.